Minnesota writer Frank Bures grew up skiing, fishing and canoeing on the Mississippi River in Winona.
This informed his new book Pushing the River: An Epic Battle, a Lost History, a Near Death, and Other True Canoeing Stories. It’s a fascinating collection of true stories about canoeing on our Minnesota waterways.
These days, we hear the occasional story about personal journeys people take paddling down the Mississippi River, but back in the day, people raced it. In a recent What We’re Reading interview, Frank described the Paul Bunyan Canoe Derby, one of the earliest canoeing competitions.
“The derby was a really huge event. It would kick off the Aquatennial and when the paddlers got to Minneapolis, sometimes there would be like 100,000 people watching the final sprint.”
While an early race in 1928 for the Minneapolis Diamond Jubilee ran 500 miles from the Mississippi Headwaters to Minneapolis, the Paul Bunyan Canoe Derby became the standard race. It began in 1940, ran intermittently until 1960 and started on the shores of Lake Bemidji.
The derby drew in paddlers from all over, including some very familiar with paddling both the rivers and lakes of the area. Frank noted that the Tibbetts family of Ball Club would frequently compete in the derbies.
“They were a big, big racing family, and they won a few of the derbies, and Jesse Tibbetts … they called him the Dean of the Derby. He raced in the first three or so races.”
The derby would also give us canoe-racing legend Gene Jensen and foster the beginning of modern canoeing as competitors worked to improve their canoes off-season.
Along with these aspects of Minnesota history, other stories in Pushing the River reveal the beauty and danger of the great outdoors. In the story “Dead Cold,” Frank recounts his own experience capsizing in a remote area of the river in nearly freezing water. He credits two men in another canoe for saving his life.
He explained, “I can't even tell you what kind of luck it was that they were there because you'd never see people on that river right in the middle of the city, especially at 7 o'clock on a Sunday morning in March. It was just really, really, super lucky.”
The book is full of interesting histories and stories like this and Frank brings each adventure alive. Pushing the River will be enjoyed by outdoor enthusiasts and those who don’t stray far from their couches alike.
Pushing the River is published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press. More information on Frank Bures and his other books can be found on his website.
You can meet Frank and hear him talk about Pushing the River in Bemidji in late May and Ely in early June. Visit here for more information on those events.
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